Questions to Ask When Hiring an Accountant
For anyone hiring an accountant for personal finances or a small business. Twenty questions that sort out credentials, what the fee covers, who does the day to day work, and how much advice you are actually buying.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are your credentials, and what can you do that an unlicensed preparer cannot?
Why ask it
Accountant is not a protected title, so the answer separates a CPA, an enrolled agent, a chartered accountant, and a bookkeeper with a certificate. It matters most for representation before tax authorities, which only some of them can do.
What kind of clients do you work with most?
Why ask it
The honest answer is usually narrower than the website: mostly individuals, mostly trades, mostly one software platform. If your situation sits outside that band you become the practice where they learn, at your expense.
Which parts of this work would you do, and which would you hand back to me?
Why ask it
Many engagements fail on the boundary between bookkeeping and accounting rather than on quality. Get the split explicit: who enters transactions, who reconciles, who chases receipts, who closes the month.
What does your fee include, and what falls outside it?
Why ask it
The predictable extras are payroll filings, sales tax returns, amended returns, notices, and any call that turns into research. Ask for the list of out-of-scope items rather than the list of included ones.
How do you bill, and how often will I see an invoice?
Why ask it
Hourly billing makes every question cost something, which is how clients stop asking and small problems compound. Fixed monthly fees cost more up front and tend to produce more contact and fewer surprises.
Who will I actually deal with week to week?
Why ask it
In most firms above one person the principal wins the work and a staff accountant does it. Ask for a name, how long that person has been there, and who covers when they are away.
What accounting software do you work in, and would I have to change?
Why ask it
Some practices will only work inside one platform, and a migration mid-year costs you a reconciliation headache and often a subscription. Also ask whether the file stays in your account with them invited, or the reverse.
How do you want documents sent to you, and how do you keep them secure?
Why ask it
If the answer is email attachments, your bank statements and identification numbers will sit in two inboxes indefinitely. Look for a portal, plus a clear line on retention and who inside the practice can open your file.
How long does a normal month take to close, and when will I see numbers?
Why ask it
Reports that arrive six weeks after month end are history rather than management information. A firm that says the fifteenth working day has a process; one that says as soon as we can does not.
What would you expect to tell me that I am not seeing in my own numbers?
Why ask it
This tests whether they read financial statements or only produce them. Strong candidates talk about margin drift, timing of cash, or a cost line that grew faster than revenue, all things you can act on.
How much of your work is filing deadlines, and how much is advice before decisions?
Why ask it
Compliance is a service you can buy almost anywhere. Advice before you sign a lease, hire, or take a distribution is the part that changes outcomes, and it usually has to be paid for deliberately.
When do you contact me during the year, and about what?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual calendar: estimated payment reminders, a mid-year check, a pre-year-end conversation. Reactive practices only surface in filing season, by which point most decisions are already fixed.
How fast do you reply, and what is your rule for urgent items?
Why ask it
You want a stated number of business days and a named alternative during busy periods. Vague reassurance here reliably becomes silence in the weeks around a deadline.
Have you handled a tax authority query for a client, and what happened?
Why ask it
The story tells you whether they engage or forward you the letter. Note whether they describe fixing the underlying record keeping afterward, which is the part that stops the next query.
What have you found in the records I sent you so far?
Why ask it
A candidate who has actually opened your file will name something: unreconciled accounts, a misposted loan, personal spending mixed into the business. Generic praise means they have not looked.
How would you handle it if I asked you to do something you thought was wrong?
Why ask it
Someone who has never had that conversation with a client has either never been asked or has always agreed. Both are worth knowing before you are the one asking.
If a mistake happens on your side, what do you cover?
Why ask it
Separate the correction, the penalty, and the interest, and ask whether they carry professional indemnity insurance. A practice that has thought about this answers quickly and will put it in the engagement letter.
How many clients does the person on my account carry?
Why ask it
Capacity, not competence, is what usually degrades service. If the number sounds high, ask what happens in the busiest fortnight of their year and who gets deprioritized.
Can I speak with a client whose situation resembles mine?
Why ask it
Ask the reference two specific things: how long the monthly close takes in practice, and how a difficult moment was handled. Testimonials are curated; a phone call rarely is.
If this ends, what do I take with me and how long does the handover take?
Why ask it
You want the software file, the trial balance, depreciation and basis schedules, and prior filings, in usable form. Practices that keep records in proprietary tools or delay handovers make leaving expensive, so establish the terms while you still have leverage.
How to Choose an Accountant
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the First Meeting
Decide Which Job You Are Hiring For
Bookkeeping, statutory filing, tax planning, and business advice are four different purchases that often arrive in one quote. Write down which you need now and which can wait, then make each candidate price them separately. Bundled fees hide the fact that the advisory hours quietly disappear.
Get Your Records Into One Place First
Bank statements, prior filings, the current software file, loan documents, and payroll records. Candidates who see real numbers give real quotes, and the ones who spot problems in your existing records reveal themselves immediately.
Check the Credential With the Issuing Body
Professional bodies publish member registers and disciplinary records. Confirm the credential and its current standing rather than accepting the letters on a business card, and note whether the licence covers the country and state where you actually file.
Interview Three, in the Same Week
Comparison is what makes weak answers visible. Ask each the same five questions, particularly the one about what they found in your records, and the difference between preparation levels will be obvious within a day or two.
How to Read the Answers
- Notice whether they ask about your plans rather than only your paperwork. Someone who never asks whether you intend to hire, sell, or borrow cannot advise on any of it.
- A quote that arrives without a scope document is not a quote. It is an opening position.
- Be careful with anyone who promises a specific tax saving before reviewing your filings. Legitimate savings depend on facts they have not seen yet.
- Watch for jargon that never resolves into plain language. If they cannot explain accruals or basis in a sentence you understand, monthly reports will not be useful to you either.
- Reluctance to name the staff member handling your account usually means the account is being handled by whoever is free.
- The best signal is an unprompted question about your record keeping habits, because that is what actually determines how much their work will cost you.
Making the First Three Months Work
- 1Agree the monthly document deadline and put it in your own calendar, not just theirs.
- 2Ask for the first month's reports early, then sit down and go through them line by line until you understand each one.
- 3Separate personal and business accounts completely if you have not already; it removes the largest recurring source of cleanup billing.
- 4Set the year-end planning meeting date now, at least two months before your year end.
- 5Keep your own copy of every filing and schedule they produce as it is issued.
Common Pitfalls
Assuming the Title Means a Licence
In most places anyone may advertise as an accountant or a tax preparer. The consequence is not usually fraud, it is limited standing: an unlicensed preparer may not be able to represent you in an examination, and their work may not satisfy a lender or an investor who asks for reviewed statements.
Buying Compliance and Expecting Advice
A fee that covers a return and a set of statements buys exactly that. If you want a call before you sign a lease or take a distribution, name it in the engagement, put a number on it, and use it. Advisory hours nobody scheduled are advisory hours nobody delivered.
Letting Them Own the Software File
When the accounting file lives in the practice's subscription, leaving means exporting a compromised copy or paying for a migration. Hold the subscription in your own name and invite them as a user, the same way you would with a bank feed.
Ignoring Capacity Until Deadline Season
Most service failures are scheduling failures. Ask how many accounts the person handling yours carries, and what their busiest two weeks look like. A capable accountant with eighty clients will still be unreachable in the fortnight you need them.